Angelou made impact during Misericordia visit

THE CITIZENS’ VOICE FILE Angelou speaks at Misericordia University during her second visit to the school on Nov. 2, 2007.

Famed poet Maya Angelou’s appearance at Misericordia University on Nov. 2, 2007 spurred great joy within the community.

It was also met with a question — of all places, why speak at Misericordia?

Amy Krzywicki, a Crestwood School District English teacher and lifelong fan of Angelou, said she was at first surprised Angelou was visiting Misericordia, but then she had a revelation: “That’s who she was.”

“Coming to a small community like ours is so typical of who she was,” Krzywicki said. “She grew up in a small community, starting out in Stamps, Arkansas. I’m sure that played sometimes into the places she chose to go. She wasn’t always big time and I think she remembered that.”

Angelou, 86, died Wednesday at her North Carolina home.

She visited the Dallas school twice — in 2007 and also in 1972.

Marie Stolarick, assistant director of cultural and special events at Misericordia, arranged Angelou’s most recent appearance and worked with her that November evening. Stolarick said the purpose of Angelou’s speech was not to talk at the audience, but rather talk with the audience, as she recited poetry and conversed with the crowd.

Stolarick on Wednesday shared a letter she wrote to Angelou’s agent in December 2007, in which she said, “Ravings about the heartfelt and loving appearance by Dr. Angelou … can still be heard echoing through the halls and classrooms.”

“Maya Angelou’s visit made a huge impact on the campus, the community and the students,” Stolarick said Wednesday.

During Angelou’s visit, Krzywicki said she was blessed with a chance to meet and even get a photo taken with the larger-than-life figure. When she bent down to have her photo taken with the seated Angelou, the poet offered a piece of advice that stunned her.

The message was quick and off-handed, yet meaningful, Krzywicki said. Stolarick said Angelou was not comfortable having her picture taken at all, but if she was going to allow her picture be taken, “it had to have meaning.”

Krzywicki primarily teaches English to 10th grade students and said students on Wednesday were approaching her asking, “Could you believe Maya Angelou passed away?”

“I cover some of her poetry and essays and the kids really get something meaningful from her work,” Krzywicki said. “They’re very interested in her life story, her troubled beginnings and how she emerged as such an influential, independent woman in our society.”

Prior to the 2007 visit, which drew a crowd of about 1,550 at the university’s Anderson Sports and Health Center, Angelou spoke at Misericordia’s “Black Americans’ Contributions to the American Way of Life” program in 1972. In addition to an extensive collection of Angelou’s literature at Misericordia’s library, the college also has three signed books in its archives.

mbufano@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2117, @CVBufano

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